Antony happy with budget allocation for Defence

Defence Minister A K Antony today said he was happy with the budgetary allocation for armed forces as the Government has assured to provide his ministry additional funds to meet acquisition requirements.

"By and large we are very happy about the Budget because apart from the allocation, the Finance Minister has said that if the defence needs more money, there won''t be any problem. On the whole, we are happy with the assurance that if we want more, we will get more money," he told reporters.

He was asked to react to reports suggesting that allocation of Rs 1,64,415 crore was not adequate to meet the requirements of the armed forces.

With an increase of Rs 17,071 crore, Government has hiked the defence budget by 11.59% for 2011-12 and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said that there will be no problems if more funds are required by the armed forces.

The Defence Ministry has been granted Rs 69,199 (approx USD 15 billion) crore for capital expenditure outlay for finalising acquisition of major items such as 126 multi-role combat aircraft, 197 Light Utility Helicopters (LUHs), 10 C-17 heavy-lift aircraft and 145 Ultra-Light Howitzers.

Asked whether the Army has been provided with the Rules of Engagement (RoE) for operating in Naxal-hit areas of Chhattisgarh, Antony said, "Consultations are going on as our role is not direct engagement. We are not going to directly engage ourselves directly there and will provide only transport and logistics support."